I was invited for a Hindi movie recently. It was an offer I willingly declined at first. I really wasn’t too excited. I know the storyline of any Bollywood movie. The songs, the dances, the colour, the costumes, the same old sequence between hero and heroine. But, I was assured that Hichki would be different. The story centres around an aspiring teacher, Naina Mathur (played by Rani Mukerji), and a batch of fourteen unruly 9th class students in an elite school.
“There are no bad students, only bad teachers,” Naina says off the cuff. Life was hard on her. She suffers from Tourette Syndrome (TS), a neurological disorder that causes repetitive and involuntary movements or ‘tic’ noises. Despite this embarrassing medical condition which neither the management nor the students understand, Naina is determined to be a teacher—and a good one. At home, her life revolves around her ever-dominating father with his own dream for Naina, the silent presence of her mother and a charming brother at her side to comfort her. At school the dynamics are more hostile! She must face the ruthless slum kids with their annoying behaviour, and the ridicule and jealousy by the elite management of the prestigious St. Notker’s school. The movie has its twists and turns. The great turn is in the lives of the fourteen kids! Naina and the kids make the classroom a playground of inner transformation.
You and I can do the same. How?
Education is real when it is inclusive, inspiring and introspective. Education must be a level-playing ground where all are treated as one. Teacher Naina reaches out to those students on the periphery and challenges them to compete with the very best. The marginalised ones accept the challenge and out-beat the others. A quote from the movie puts us in the right perspective, Ek aam teacher padhata hai … ek acha teacher samjhata hai …. Bahut acha teacher ho toh khud karke batata hai … lekin kuch teachers hote hai joh humein inspire karke jaate hai zindagi bhar ke liye (“An ordinary teacher teaches… a good teacher explains … a very good teacher shows an example by doing it himself… but there are some teachers who inspire us for our entire life!”)
No Student a Failure:
The scholastic year 2018-19 has started. The SSC/HSC results have been declared. The successful ones were embraced with smiles, sweets and songs. Those who ‘failed’ faced shame, scorn and shouts. Ten years of education and to be told you didn’t make it, labelled for ever a ‘failure’—what a parody! In ancient Greece, Socrates argued that education was about drawing out what was already within the student. (As many of you know, the word education comes from the Latin e-ducere, meaning “to draw out”). Ten years of ‘drawing out’ and to find out that there was nothing that could be drawn out! Empty from the start. Education can never be measured by written exams backed up by the curriculum, assessments, classroom arrangement, books and computers. Hichki again has a beautiful quote to reflect upon: School ke bahar jab zindagi imtihaan leti hai…toh subject wise nahi leti… (“Outside of school, when life takes an exam, it doesn’t do it subject-wise!”)
We often marginalize students because of their intellectual capacity, their social status and economic background. No student is empty from the start. There is an abundant wellspring, a sleeping giant, an unpolished diamond that dwells within every student. Education is about drawing that out. Failing to draw that out is failure on the part of the educator. Eric Hoffer rightly says: “The central task of education is to implant a will and facility for learning; it should produce not learned but learning people. The truly human society is a learning society, where grandparents, parents, and children are students together.” As religious, we run the best schools in the country! But sadly, we run the risk of running after ‘success in examinations’ rather than creating a society of learners whose minds are open and dare to question the ‘why’ and the ‘why not’?
A NEW WAY OF EDUCATING:
Classrooms can easily become prisons rather than palaces, agony more than ecstasy, and above all institutions for conformity rather than a home for growth. A third of a student’s day is desk-bound. Education is more a matter of the heart than an intellectual quest to satisfy. Based on the movie Hichki, here are a few tips to make your classroom a playground of inner goodness:
- Make the classroom a home:
Manage with the mind, but lead with the heart. Know that the sacred lives of the students have been entrusted into your care. Know them by name rather than by a number on the roll call. Students don’t care how much you know. They want to know how much you care!!! Love makes the classroom a home.
- Be fair, not partial:
Be fair! It’s not easy. Treat all students fairly. You are their teacher; you rightly belong to everyone. Be all inclusive. But, at the same time, befriend the ‘difficult’ ones. They are the ones who need you most.
- Deal with disruptions lovingly:
Students will always be students. They will—without malice-disrupt and distract your class. Remember: A rebellious student is an insecure student. Find time after class to give attention to them by building confidence in them by ‘giving a word in the ear.’ Correct them with love. A small word can transform the climate of your class and school. Don Bosco, the great educator, believed in the power of the ‘word in the ear.’
- Deal with discipline issues privately:
The classroom must be a second home—not a battle ground for winners and losers. Order and discipline is necessary in your class. Be human and deal with discipline issues privately than cause a student to ‘lose face’ in front of his/her friends.
- Use humour, not sarcasm:
Poor teachers confuse good humour with sarcasm. While humour can quickly diffuse a situation, sarcasm may harm your relationship with the students. Use your best judgment, but realize that what some people consider funny, others may find offensive.
- Motivate for excellence:
Students are not stupid. They are only sleeping giants. Trigger the need for excellence and draw out
the best in each student. Mediocrity is never a benchmark. Be a coach, not a referee!
- Use time and space creatively:
Let your classroom be a learning laboratory. Remember your kindergarten days…. Learning is maximum in an atmosphere of fun and creativity. Text books limit creativity. Technology has shortened the learning timespan. Students have more time on their hands. Invest in creative activity – even beyond the walls of the classroom!
- Create a family spirit:
Develop collaborate rather than competitive learning. Invite the bright students to adopt a weaker
student. To go higher, students need to learn to pick up the other.
- Make rules understandable:
Every rule defends a value. Let students know why a rule is set in place. Purposeful students are open to learn better. You play the parent figure. Help the student to know that discipline is not the enemy of freedom. Make no compromises when it comes to discipline. There is freedom in discipline!
- Give primacy to God:
All learning is futile if, at the end of the day, we do not become more loving human beings. While we feed the intellect, we need to nourish the heart and the soul. Have a primacy for God in your life and your students too will become more God-loving. Your classroom must create a sense of the sacred and a respect for people of all faiths and religious traditions.
What difference will you make to your students in 2018-2019? May it be beautiful and lasting.
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